Judaica Collection and Papers

After 18 months, project staff has concluded processing the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. During this time, project archivists, coordinators, library staff and faculty, consultants, and student interns have:

-Made available a finding aid to assist researchers in using the collection.
-Scanned and created metadata for almost 5,500 collection items in the Lowcountry Digital Library .
-Cataloged over 300 published materials, including books, serials, pamphlets, and art portfolios.
-Curated an online exhibit based on the collection’s strength of imagery centered on the synagogue.

Please contact Manager of Research Services Mary Jo Fairchild with any questions regarding the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection.

The contest between boxer Daniel Mendoza and his former mentor Richard Humphries. The text reads : “This Boxing Match took place at Doncaster, Sept. 29th, 1790, on a Twenty four foot Stage and was the third Public Contest between those two pugilists. It lasted for about an Hour & five Minutes & was decisive in favour of Mendoza.”

Scenes from the execution by hanging of financier Joseph Süß Oppenheimer: his exit from Stuttgart under armed guard, above, and his hanging outside the city, below.

Josephus (born Joseph ben Matityahu).

Moses Mendelssohn.

Jewish peddler Mordechai Löb (1745-1817) of Schlüchtern, known as the “Preusje von Schlüchtern.

Chief Rabbi Maier Zipser (1815-1869).

Tomb of Absalom, Tomb of Benei Hezir, and Tomb of Zechariah in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Kidron Valley) in Jerusalem.

Tombs of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.

Tomb of Zechariah in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Kidron Valley) in Jerusalem.

Old Jewish Cemetery in Frankfurt am Main.

Jewish cemetery in Gorlice.

Black-and-white engraving depicting, above, Simon of Trent, whose disappearance and murder led to charges of blood libel against the Jewish community of Trent; below, an image of a Judensau (Jews’ sow). This engraving is a copy of a wall painting on the bridge tower of Frankfurt am Main; the bridge was demolished in 1801. “In 1475 on Maundy Thursday, the child Simon, who was 2 years old, was murdered by the Jews.” The text reads : “Oy vey Rabbi Anschl, oy, oy! Mausch, oy vey, oy, oy! Drink Mauchi, drink the milk! Eat, Rabbi, this filth! That’s your greatest delicacy!”

Hand-colored etching depicting a sentimental contemplation of the moon. The text reads : “Not blanched, not plated, / And yet such a magnificent gleam! / Oh, my soul is deeply moved / It must be made of silver!”

Hand-colored etching of a scene from Karl Borromäus Alexander Sessa’s satirical play “Unser Verkehr” (The Company We Keep). Etching after Johann Michael Voltz. The text reads : “Sir Corporal, Sir Officer, Sir General! Have mercy, have great mercy and don’t leave me under fire. I can’t stand it any more, I can’t endure it, I can’t smell the gun powder any longer, I am going to faint!”

Caricature of Moritz Mohl at a lectern during the 1848 Frankfurt Parliament, as other members of parliament approach him in anger. At the Frankfurt Parliament, Mohl argued against legal equality for Jews; he was constantly interrupted by other members of the assembly. Caricature by Alfons von Boddien. Lithograph printed Frankfurt am Main: Eduard Gustav May.

The text reads : –“Oh, God – Schmul – you’re also invited to rich Salomon’s — and don’t even have a clean shirt on?” –“You don’t either – !” –“You know what, you put my shirt on – and I’ll put on yours, that way it’ll look like we both just mixed up the laundry!”

Caricature published in the Düsseldorfer Monathefte, Band 9, No. 15. The text reads: –Ascher: “God forbid Isaac – I come upon you – in such company – so it’s true – you have beomce a goy – if Äti knew that – he would roll over in his grave.” –Isaac: “God – Nu Ascher – so what – in three weeks my brother will be a Christian as well – then Äti will roll over one more time – this way he will return to his original position.”

The Lowcountry Digital Library has made available 705 additional postcards from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. These postcards come from three portfolios covering the topics of Jewish authors and artists, rabbis and political leaders, and folk art.

Chief Rabbi Joseph Hermann Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

Rabbi Hayyim Moshe Bejerano, Chief Rabbi of Turkey.

Chaplains in the Germany Army during World War I, including Jewish chaplain Rabbi Jacob Sonderling.

Design of the Jewish National Fund’s commemorative Theodor Herzl stamp, featuring Herzl looking toward the Tower of David in Jerusalem, as Jewish pioneers march to work below.

Arthur Balfour’s reception at the electrical power station in Tel Aviv during his 1925 visit to Palestine. Balfour (fourth from right); to his right, Pinhas Rutenberg. Meir Dizengoff stands second from right.

Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel addressing the first meeting of the Assembly of Representatives on October 7, 1920, in Jerusalem.

A boy learning to lay tefillin before his bar mitzvah, including the blessing for putting on tefillin : “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us regarding the commandment of tefillin.”

A Jewish marriage ceremony. Text excerpted from the Sheva Brachot : “Voices of joy and gladness, voices of groom and bride.”

Blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.

Lighting Sabbath candles.

Entering the synagogue. Original illustration by Friedrich Kaskeline.

The ceremony of tashlikh. The Brooklyn Bridge can be seen in the background.

As the Rosenthall project draws to a close, we are thrilled to be able to announce two significant collection resources. The finding aid for the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection is now available to researchers online. The finding aid provides a comprehensive overview of the many formats and topics included in this collection, as well as materials documenting Rosenthall’s collecting efforts.

We are also thrilled to announce the launch of the online exhibit The Life of the Synagogue, a tribute to both the central role of the synagogue in Jewish life and the man whose passion for collecting made this exhibit possible.

Curated by Samuel D. Gruber, Sarah Glover, and Amy Lazarus, the exhibit contains 76 items selected from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection at the College of Charleston, one of the largest accessible collections of imagery related to synagogues and other aspects of Jewish life and culture around the world. The exhibit is divided into nine sections, exploring topics ranging from synagogue building and dedications to the celebration of life cycle events and festivals to the varied contributions of women. These images offer a broad understanding of the history of synagogue architecture and design, in addition to shedding light on the lives, customs, and religious practices of the people within the four walls of the synagogue.

A major focus of the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection is synagogue imagery represented in both prints and postcards. In addition to thousands of such items, dozens of books collected by Rosenthall explore the art and architecture of the synagogue. Such items include publications on specific synagogues, such as Bevis Marks in London, the Alte Synagoge in Essen, and the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague; on synagogues in defined geographic areas, such as Baden-Württemberg, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Italy; and on synagogue art and architecture.

This publication includes an introduction by Eduard Knoblauch’s son Gustav Knoblauch, which details the history of the building’s construction and explicates the layout of the complex, as well as one full-page chromolithograph of the synagogue’s interior and and six full-page engravings of plans for the structure.

Chromolithograph of the apse and Torah ark of the Neue Synagoge, Berlin

Engraving of the synagogue’s exterior

Floor plans for the upper and lower levels. The upper level is labeled as the women’s gallery; the placement of the organ is also noted. Men would sit on the lower level, but the plans for this level also include stairs for the women to use to enter their gallery. A smaller diagram to the left shows the synagogue’s proximity to Berlin’s Jewish Hospital.

The Lowcountry Digital Library has just uploaded approximately 400 Rosh Hashanah postcards from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. In addition to New Year’s cards with beautiful motifs such as flowers, birds, and landscapes, a good portion of these postcards depict scenes from Jewish life, including holiday celebrations, life cycle events, ritual objects, and themes such as Zionism and emigration.

Havdalah. The text is excerpted from the blessing over the Havdalah candle : “Who creates the lights of the fire.”

Entering the Sukkah with the etrog during the celebration of Sukkot.

A father and his children on their way to synagogue for Hakafot on Simchat Torah.

Hakafot on Simchat Torah. The text reads : “Rejoice and exult in the joy of Torah.”

Kiddush Levana on Motzei Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur ritual of malkot (lashes).

A family on the way to synagogue.

Greetings after the synagogue service.

A group of boys reciting the Shema Yisrael at the bedside of a kimpeturin, a mother recovering after childbirth.

The Mitzvah Tantz.

A father blessing his children.

Zionist Rosh Hashanah postcard.

Zionist Rosh Hashanah postcard.

Candles, kiddush cup, and spice box used in the ceremony of Havdalah. Text at the bottom of the postcard reads : “I will raise the cup of deliverance and call upon the name of the Lord.”

Torah scroll.

Rosh Hashanah postcard featuring a shofar. Text at the top of the postcard reads : “It is a day of blowing the horn unto you.”

Kapparot. The following is recited during the ceremony : “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement.”

Same Rosh Hashanah postcard as above. In this postcard, the head of the rooster used for kapparot is substituted with the face of Nicholas II of Russia.

Rosh Hashanah postcard depicting American Jews holding out their arms to their relatives arriving from Russia. Above are the Imperial Russian coat of arms and American eagle holding a banner with the text excerpted from Psalms 17:8 : “Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings.”

One of the few truly interactive items held in the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection is this Sukkah kit, produced by Kunstgewerbestube Jenny Westheim, at Schwanenstraße 6, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The kit originally came as five large pieces, shown below, including the three exterior walls as one piece, fourth exterior wall (decorated as an interior wall), and roof as the three largest pieces. The smaller piece, above left, is comprised of pieces to be separated and then assembled into a table, benches, and a basket of challah and vase of flowers to go on the table. The second smaller piece, below left, contains three flower boxes for the windows and support structures for the table and stools. The exterior wall is also embedded with smaller items, including candlesticks, to be removed and placed on the assembled table.

Sukkah kit waiting to be assembled.

Sukkah kit walls and roof.

In addition to this Sukkah above, which was never used, the Rosenthall Collection holds a second, identical Sukkah that had been previously assembled. We used pieces from this second, previously used Sukkah, to assemble the kit. This envelope, in which the pieces came, shows what the Sukkah will look like upon assembly.

Among the Yiddish-language materials held in the William A. Rosenthall Judaica collection are three posters dating from World War I, one produced by the United States Food Administration and two produced by the Jewish Welfare Board.

The Food Administration was the responsible agency for the rationing of food in the United States during World War I. The Yiddish text on the following poster published by the Food Administration reads: “Food will win the war! / You came here seeking freedom. Now you must help to preserve it. Wheat is needed for the allies. Waste nothing.” The “Food will win the war” campaign, initiated by the Food Administration’s head Herbert Hoover, calls on immigrants to do their part for the war effort by conserving food. The posters of the Jewish Welfare Board, below, call for contributions to the war effort through the donation of funds to welfare organizations supporting both troops at the front and their families on the homefront.

The Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was formed at the beginning of World War I to “minister to the spiritual and recreational needs of all the men in the army and navy, but serving especially those of the Jewish faith.” In a pamphlet published by the JWB shortly after its founding, the organization described its purpose thusly: “To be with the Jewish soldier and sailor everywhere, aiding him, cheering him, inspiring him, serving him loyally and helpfully, and, through him, his country, and the ideals for which it stands.” From the perspective of the JWB, its “most distinctive vital function” was the “safeguarding and developing of the religious life and convictions of [the] men.” The JWB supported Jewish religious life through leading Sabbath and holiday services; supplying prayer books, prayer shawls, and tefillin; and providing kosher food.

However, the JWB went far beyond these religious activities in providing for the welfare of Jewish troops. According to the organization, “Everything from leading a minyan to staging a boxing bout for the entertainment of the boys falls within the province of the Jewish Welfare Board workers.” Welfare workers provided classes in English, French, American history, and civics; organized literary clubs, concerts, dances, and athletic events; set up libraries in English and Yiddish; and visited sick and wounded soldiers in the hospital. Personal services of the JWB extended beyond the servicemen themselves to include home visits to the soldiers’ relatives.

The many services of the National Jewish Welfare Board are on display in the above poster, printed for the United War Work Campaign. The United War Work Campaign brought together seven organizations–the YMCA, the YWCA, the American Library Association, the War Camp Community Service, the Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Board, and the Salvation Army–into one large funding drive charged with raising over $170 million for the war during the week of November 11-18, 1918.

The Yiddish text on the poster reads: “He provides them with everything,” an apt description for the the Welfare worker holding a Torah scroll, Yiddish books by authors such as Sholem Aleichem and I. L. Peretz, food, and a violin with sheet music. Funds raised through the United War Work Campaign would pay for these services as well as home visits to soldiers’ families, shown in the poster below. The Yiddish text on this poster reads: “Don’t worry, he is all right.”

The William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection includes multiple issues of several long-running, widely-circulated German language serials, such as the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Ost und West, and Simplicissimus. In addition to these titles, the collection contains a full run of the illustrated weekly Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung.

The Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung was published in Pest from August 3, 1860, to June 28, 1861. Josef Bärmann edited and published the paper from its inception until April 5, 1861. On this date, the paper merged with the publication Der Carmel: religiöse Wochenschrift für Synagoge, Schule und Haus published by Wolf Alois Meisel, Chief Rabbi of Pest, to form a new publication entitled Carmel, Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung.

First issue of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung, published August 3, 1860, featuring Rabbi Löw Schwab.

In June 1860, before the first issue was published, the editorial staff issued a statement describing their vision for the newly created Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung. They described a publication that would include interesting news from near and afar, literary sketches, and instructive articles from the realms of art and science. The editors aimed to fill the columns of the pages with scientific articles and historical sketches connected to Jewish life and history. To this end, they requested interesting reports from and about Jewish communities and biographies about meritorious Jews. They want to make known the achievements of Jewish artists, authors, and other specialists. The editors were also very clear about who the audience for this new publication would be. They stressed that the publication was dedicated not to subject specialists, but to all who might find it amusing and instructive. First and foremost, they would publish a paper dedicated to Jewish readers.

Last issue of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung, published June 28, 1861, featuring Rabbi Adolf Jellinek.

True to their stated mission, the editors of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung published a weekly containing dispatches from Jewish communities around the Austrian Empire, as well as more in-depth articles about Jewish communities further afield, in places such as Poland, Spain, Damascus, and Baghdad. The paper also published poems, novelettes, and literary reviews. In addition, the cover of each issue featured an illustration of either a prominent Jewish individual or important Jewish institution in the Austrian Empire, along with corresponding biographies of the individuals and histories of the institutions featured. Such individuals included Rabbi Löw Schwab, Rabbi Moses Schreiber (Moses Sofer), Isaak Noah Mannheimer, Israel Popper, Rabbi Götz Schwerin, Michael Lazar Biedermann, Samuel Oppenheimer, Rabbi Mordecai Banet (Markus Benedikt), Joel Deutsch, Rabbi Leopold Löw, József Eötvös, Adolf Fischhof, Béla Széchenyi, and Rabbi Adolf Jellinek.

Israel Popper (1800–1860), leading textile manufacturer and head of the Jewish Religious Community in Brünn (Brno)

Featured buildings include Das Allgemeine Österreichische Israelitische Taubstummen-Institut in Wien, the Albrechtinum and synagogue funded by Philipp Schey von Koromla in Güns (Kőszeg), Die Israelitische Kinderbewahranstalt in Wien, the Main Synagogue of Odessa, Old New Synagogue in Prague, and the Israelitisches Krankenhaus in Pest.

The Loose Postcards series of the Rosenthall Collection is comprised largely of scenes from Mandatory Palestine and the State of Israel. The major focus of these postcards is geography and landmarks–street scenes from cities such as Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv, landmarks such as gates of the Old City of Jerusalem, or natural landmarks such as the Dead Sea.

The exception is this bound booklet of 20 postcards entitled Jewish Battalions in Palestine (הגדודים העברים בארץ ישראל). The postcards feature black-and-white photographs by photographer and cinematographer Yaacov Ben-Dov (1882-1968) and a cover designed by artist Ze’ev Raban (1890-1970).

The subject of the photographs is the Jewish Legion, a military formation of Jewish volunteers that fought with the British Army during World War I, particularly the 38th, 39th, and 40th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers.

Colonel Paterson, D.S.O., Commanding the 38th Battn. R.F.

Changing the Guard at El Arish

Chaplain’s address during the Saturday Service at the Camp of the 38th R.F.